Which song did you play in 2021?

365 days and in 2 hours, another year will pass. As I look back, I realized this year was yet another roller coaster journey that challenged me to become stronger and resilient than I ever was.

I mean, for sure we've all had our own share of struggles and challenges this year. Some are far worst than we could've imagined.

But, throughout the whole year of never-ending mishaps, dramas, charades, and spur-of-the-moment shenanigans, I have met a lot of people from all walks of life and each one of them left a mark, in my mind and in my heart, that I will be forever grateful for. I guess we all do and all of you can relate to this as well.

Along with these, I have also realized people are like songs, classified into different genres, melody, music, and lyrics. Totally different in a lot of aspects but all are composed or drawn from emotions, personality, and motives.

So here’s a list of 5 song titles that came to mind, which best describes the kinds of people I have met this year. (P.S you can click on the images to link you through the songs on youTube for better listening).

Love you, Goodbye by One Direction

Those who came into our lives whom we loved and who loved us back the same, but the situation just doesn’t seem to add up or make sense no matter how hard we try to make things work. And the only way to keep on loving them is to lose them in the process, let go, and let them be happy – even if it’s with someone else. A little brutal, but Oh Baby, Let me love you, Goodbye.

Thank you, Next by Ariana Grande

People whose motives were ambiguous, cruel, or ill-motivated in pushing our patience to the limit by hurting us with lies, deceitful actions, or basically just using us to their advantage, may it be for money or for something else without giving a damn on how we’d feel. Seemingly, they only want to have fun, sucking out all the positive energy that’s left of us.

These people most often don’t see our worth, leaving us unappreciated and undervalued. And because we always try to see past their actions, always giving the benefit of the doubt and trying to look for the goodness in them, we always end up realizing that it was all too late to blame or to even comprehend their true motives. So the best thing to do is live, let live and – Thank you, Next!

Diamonds by Rihanna

In the raw, small crystal clear, bright shiny pieces worthy of being kept forever. Diamonds are like those people who marked a place in our hearts, soul-deep that we can keep their friendship and memory with us for a lifetime. They either inspired, helped, or guided us to be the best versions of ourselves and pushed us further to yearn for higher grounds than where we were before. People who are happy to see us happy. People who just support us in all our endeavors whether we win or lose.

Mind you, it doesn’t need years to figure out who those diamonds are. Surprisingly, some are even new acquaintances or people we get to see on a daily basis. We weren’t just given much time and opportunity to get to know them or bond with them in the past – But when that single moment comes, you just know, you will feel it was all too authentic and genuine that you’d tell yourself, I wasn’t expecting we have a lot of things in common or we’d get along well and I am happy we did.

Beautiful Mistakes by Maroon 5

I guess, the title “literally” explains it all. For those who came to our lives unexpectedly and opened our minds to explore the unknown “what if’s”, the spur of the moment sh!tuations that caught us of guard where we couldn’t think “logically” or instances where our mind was too clouded by heightened emotions, finding ourselves diving into something that we thought felt right.

People we met in these haphazard situations usually teach us a lesson or help us to understand their own personal struggles and circumstances, that probably, they might just have been looking for someone to give them comfort and a little bit of happiness in the most bizarre ways we could think of.

Nevertheless, no matter how f*cked up the sh!tuation was, there were no regrets, just a realization that it was indeed a mistake but left a lesson and a beautiful memory in the end.

Oblivion by Labrinth

Those few limited people who knows the darker version of us, who sees our struggles and feels the pain we feel. Someone who knows our flaws and doesn’t judge us in any way, but instead, accepts us for who we are and the million broken pieces we are made of. They give us unlimited chances to make mistakes and redeem ourselves afterwards without any question or pause. These are the people we can get lost with – in oblivion.

In the end, no matter what motive or intentions we have, it will all be up to us, what song we chose to play in others lives.

If you are one of those people whom I have met and got along this year, whether you were my Oblivion, a Beautiful Mistake, Diamonds, a Thank you Next or my Love you, Goodbye… whether you stayed or you left, Thank you for being part of my 2021. ?I will always wish you well and hope to see you again, somehow soon.

Can you tell me So, can you tell me then, which song did you play in 2021? I wish I was Diamonds in your life too, or perhaps your Oblivion or your BEA-utiful mistake. I just hope I wasn’t a Thank you, Next. Nonetheless, I hope I made a positive impact on your life and left a good memory that you can keep for a lifetime.

***** A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S *****

This article is dedicated to all of you, my readers, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances.

Life has never been more meaningful and more worth, than being surrounded by colorful souls who contribute a little bit of something here and there.

The lessons we have learned, the struggles we faced altogether, the tactless gossips we've talked about and the good sensible conversations shared over coffee or alcohol.

Cheers to looking forward to a better and more meaningful 2022!

Much Love and Peace to all!

xoxo, Bea